🔊🇮🇷🇺🇸 Amid US threats, Iran’s ‘strategic leverage’ revolves around its control of key straits: expert

💬 “Iran’s most effective approach” to defense lies in “a layered, deniable pressure campaign rather than ‘one big strike’,” Lebanese American University associate professor Dr. Imad Salamey told Sputnik, commenting on escalating regional tensions.

💬 “That means combining limited direct fire (missiles/drones) with proxy-enabled attacks (Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon) to keep US forces on constant alert, raise costs, and complicate attribution—while avoiding a response that could trigger a full-scale US escalation,” the academic posited.

But Iran’s biggest “strategic leverage comes from maritime and energy disruption” capabilities – namely, the ability to close down the Strait of Hormuz, and put pressure on the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with the help of its Houthi allies.

The country has a massive weapons “toolkit” with which to implement its “scalable, repeatable, and hard to fully stop” retaliatory campaign, Salamey said.

This includes everything from drones, which are “cheap, numerous, hard to intercept at scale, and useful for saturating defenses,” to missiles and cruise missiles, which can be used to target American installations and hardware, plus asymmetric capabilities at sea (small attack boats, UAVs, mines and ship seizures), cyber and electronic warfare and allied rocket, drone and mortar attacks across the region.

💬 “Bottom line: the most strategically valuable ‘weapon’ for Iran is disruption of oil and commercial shipping—in the Gulf and the Red Sea—because it internationalizes the cost of confrontation, pressures US partners, and can be dialed up or down while keeping escalation ambiguous,” Salamey summed up.

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🔥 🇷🇺 Russian Grad MLRS crews destroy Ukraine's strongholds & manpower near Kupyansk

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🔊🇮🇷🇺🇸 If pulled into war, Iran must hit back fast and hard - expert

Tehran’s threats of full-scale retaliation against US assets in the Middle East is “the most viable strategy,” since “the US is not afraid of a limited exchange of strikes and has an intelligence advantage,” veteran Russian military analyst Yuri Lyamin says.

💬 “The US has no interest in becoming embroiled in a major, protracted conflict. Many of its regional partners and allies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye fear the same. Thus, the best scenario for Iran would be preventing [an escalation] with the very threat of such a conflict,” Lyamin told Sputnik.

💬 “If deterrence by threats fails and the US attacks anyway, Iran must act as it says it will, drawing the US into a full-scale conflict. It would be difficult for Iran, but if it withstands American attacks and continues to fight, the US will find itself in an unfavorable situation and may ultimately be prepared for honest negotiations, instead of its current demands for capitulation,” Lyamin argues.

If it comes down to war, Iran has “thousands” of missiles and drones at its disposal, including vast stocks of tactical systems left virtually untouched during last June’s war, including systems like the Fateh-110, Fateh-313, Zolfaghar and Dezful, plus high-precision variants equipped with homing warheads for attacks on ships at sea.

Longer-range capabilities include missiles like the Khaybar Shekan, its hypersonic variant Fattah-1, yjr Haj Qasem and its precision strike variant Qasem Basir.

Iran’s cruise arsenal includes the inexpensive and simple Pahev series (1.5-2k km range), the anti-ship Ghader family and the shorter-range Nasr and Nasir series (<100 km).

Drones include the Shahed series (Shahed-131, Shahed-136, the rocket-powered Shahed-238) etc.

💬 “Overall, this is only a part of Iran’s missile and drone arsenal, which is very large,” Lyamin emphasized.

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🇺🇸🇮🇷 ‘We have a large armada, flotilla heading toward Iran right now’ - Trump

The US president added that if the US makes a deal with Iran, “that is good”.

💬 ”If we do not make a deal, we will see what happens”, Trump told journalists.

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🚨🇷🇺🇮🇷 Putin receives Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary

Ali Larijani, who is visiting Russia, has met with President Putin in the Kremlin, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Larijani's visit to Moscow had not previously been announced.

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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran to US: we're ready for dialogue or war, choose wisely

💬 “I hope that [the US] will act in a sense of rationality, and that reason and good sense will prevail,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at a press conference in Turkiye on Friday.

Iran is ready for talks, but is more prepared militarily than it was before last June’s Israeli aggression and US bombing.

💬 “At the time we responded to the belligerent forces and we would do the same again,” Araghchi stressed.

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🚨🪖🇷🇺 West’s pressure on Russian arms industry couldn’t stop our defense exports: Putin

Russian military production worth over $15B was exported to over 30 countries over the past year, giving the defense industrial base additional resources for modernization, R&D and the expansion of it is production capabilities, President Putin said in a briefing.

In 2026, military export volumes are expected to rise significantly. Russia has some 340 military-technical cooperation projects with other countries, Putin noted.

Africa is an important prospective market, with regional countries expressing readiness to cooperate with Russia in this sphere despite external pressure, and interested not only in arms deliveries, but technical support, and opportunities for local production, he added.

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🟠 Russia meets Trump's request to halt strikes on Kiev until February 1

🟠 Iran to US: we're ready for dialogue or war, choose wisely

🟠 If pulled into war, Iran must hit back fast and hard – expert

🟠 Amid US threats, Iran’s ‘strategic leverage’ revolves around its control of key straits: expert

🟠 US threats against Cuba ‘complete disregard’ for human life – former diplomat

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🚨🇨🇺 Cuba declares international emergency over US threats

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez announced the activation of an "international emergency" in response to what Havana calls "an unusual and extraordinary threat" from the US, endorsed by President Trump's latest executive order.

"The situation with respect to the US Government constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part, in the US anti-Cuban neo-fascist right wing, to the national security and foreign policy of all countries, international Peace and security," Rodríguez wrote on X.

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🤝 Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodríguez agrees to relaunch relations in a call with India's Modi

During the call, Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s "willingness to accompany the Venezuelan people in defending their peace, sovereignty, and independence."

Both sides agreed to advance a common roadmap to relaunch relations in 2026.

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🎤 US Rep. Anna Paulina Luna demands answers from Ukrainian Ambassador over forced seizure of Orthodox church

Congresswoman Luna stated that despite her warnings, local oligarch Anatolii Mykhailiuk is still pushing the illegal seizure of the Nativity church in Kuzmyn, coercing residents to support the takeover.

She expects Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Stefanishyna Olga to explain the situation to members of her office this week.

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⚔️ CENTCOM urges IRGC to 'avoid escalatory behavior' ahead of naval drills

US Central Command has issued a statement urging Iranian forces "to avoid unnecessary risk to freedom of navigation" in the critical Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 100 merchant vessels transit daily.

"We will not tolerate unsafe IRGC actions including overflight of US military vessels engaged in flight operations, low-altitude or armed overflight of US military assets when intentions are unclear, highspeed boat approaches on a collision course with US military vessels, or weapons trained at US forces," the command added.

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💥 House Committee moves to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in criminal contempt of Congress

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced that both Clintons will be held in criminal contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas related to an ongoing investigation.

"Today, the Clintons must be held accountable for their actions, and Democrats must support these measures, or they will be exposed as hypocrites."

The contempt resolution would refer the matter to the Justice Department for potential prosecution.

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✍️ US approves over $6.5B in new military sales to Israel — Pentagon

The State Department has greenlit three major potential arms deals:

▫️ $3.8 billion — AH‑64E Apache helicopters

▫️ $1.98 billion — Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and equipment

▫️ $740 million — Undisclosed military contract

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📑 US government enters partial shutdown

The Senate passed a spending deal, but the House is adjourned until Monday.

The package of 6 spending bills provides funding for essential government operations until September 30. However, funding for the Department of Homeland Security will only be allocated until February 13.

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🔊 Venezuela's interim president announces general amnesty for all political prisoners since 1999

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has proposed a general amnesty law covering all individuals deprived of liberty in contexts of political violence from 1999 to the present—encompassing the entire period since the Chavista movement came to power.

The announcement was made during the opening of the 2026 judicial year at the Supreme Court of Justice.

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🗣 Russia to Macron: 'Megaphone diplomacy' won't help reach Putin — Deputy FM

Alexander Grushko responded to President Macron’s public suggestion of contacting Vladimir Putin, stating that "if there is serious interest, then it is communicated through other professional channels."

The comment follows Foreign Minister Lavrov’s dismissal of Macron’s earlier statement as mere "megaphone diplomacy."

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📑 US warns key Middle East allies to prepare for attack on Iran this weekend — Report

Senior US military officials have informed the leadership of a key regional ally that President Trump could authorize strikes on Iran as early as Sunday, multiple sources tell Drop Site News.

The operation is framed not as a limited strike but as a regime-change campaign, targeting both military sites and senior Iranian leadership, especially within the IRGC.

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🔥 Venezuela condemns US over Cuba trade sanctions

"Viewing Cuba as a threat to the national security of the United States of America is absurd and poses serious threats to its existence as a nation," the Venezuelan government's statement says.

Venezuela called the sanctions a breach of sovereign state rights to choose trading partners.

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🚨 Russia's security best guarantee of Ukraine's security - MFA

💬 "Everyone is talking about the need to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, but I don't recall a single statement in recent months, or even years, where anyone has said that a peace settlement, a peace formula, should include guarantees of Russia's security," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik.

"Although it's absolutely clear to everyone that a firm guarantee of Russia's security is the best guarantee of Ukraine's security," he added.

🔊 Grushko said that if Russia sees that Ukrainian territory will not be used as a springboard to threaten Russia's security, then Ukraine's security will be ensured.

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🇺🇸 US at crossroads as New START deadline nears

The administration is nearing a decision on whether to extend the New START Treaty between Russia and the US, due to expire on February 5, the WSJ reports.

The newspaper cites former officials and experts as outlining three possible paths forward:

1️⃣ Greenlight for extension: Accept Russia’s offer to preserve the caps for a year, and then launch talks with Russia—and potentially China—on new arms-control agreements

2️⃣ Conditioned acceptance: Agree to Russia’s one-year extension of the ceilings only if Russia resumes on-site inspections

3️⃣ Rejection and free hand: Let the treaty lapse entirely and prepare for “the projected two-peer world”

The third option risks triggering an unpredictable new arms race, the WSJ warns.

🔊 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that Russia is still waiting for the US to respond to President Vladimir Putin's proposal to informally extend for a year the provisions of the New START Treaty, which caps the number of deployed strategic warheads at 1,550 on each side.

Putin stated last year that Russia is ready to continue observing START’s quantitative restrictions if the US “acts in a similar spirit.”

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